Atlantic Bridge III includes new and existing European and Irish institutional funding partners

Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton welcomes announcement

Dublin, Ireland, Thursday, March 31, 2016: Atlantic Bridge, one of Europe’s top performing technology funds, has today announced the first close of Atlantic Bridge III, a €140m Fund for technology companies with global market scalability.

The project is supported by the Department of Jobs through Enterprise Ireland.

The Dublin based Fund will invest in up to 20 European companies, with investments already closing in seven companies. Atlantic Bridge III will focus on scaling Irish and European companies in high growth enterprise technology sectors such as Cloud, Big Data, Augmented & Virtual Reality software, Robotics and Internet of Things.

Participants in the new Fund include existing Atlantic Bridge investors, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Enterprise Ireland and the European Investment Fund, along with new institutional investors, including British Business Bank Investments Limited, the commercial arm of the British Business Bank, and a number of institutional pension funds. Atlantic Bridge also welcomes AIB as a new investor into the Atlantic Bridge III Fund and as the strategic banking partner across all its funds.

Atlantic Bridge is the largest indigenous Irish and one of the largest European technology funds, with offices in Dublin, London, Silicon Valley, Beijing and Hong Kong. It has led investment of over €100m in Irish companies. The latest Fund brings the total assets under management of Atlantic Bridge to €400m. Atlantic Bridge also co-manages, with its Chinese partners West Summit Capital, Summit Bridge Capital - a US$100m China Ireland Technology Fund.

Atlantic Bridge, using its international platform and ‘Bridge Model’, has scaled a range of European companies into the US and Chinese markets - the key markets for technology companies. This model has delivered top decile returns for its investors. Examples of scaled Atlantic Bridge portfolio companies include Movidius, FieldAware, PolarLake, Metaio, Swrve and Glonav. Atlantic Bridge currently has over 20 companies in its funds’ portfolio and has achieved 12 realisations with proceeds totaling over €1.7bn.

Welcoming the announcement, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD said: “A key part of our jobs plans for the past five years has been increasing the level of funding available to fast-growing Irish companies, supporting more of them to create the jobs we need. Atlantic Bridge has been part of the suite of new funds that our plans have helped to deliver, and I have seen first-hand how the previous funds have been successful in supporting high-potential fast-growing Irish companies to expand. I am delighted to welcome this important new fund, and I wish Brian and the team every success”.

Brian Long, Managing Partner of Atlantic Bridge, said, “We are delighted to launch Atlantic Bridge III. We already have a number of pipeline investments identified for the Fund and are confident that this will build on the track record of success of our previous Funds. As a growth equity stage Fund, Atlantic Bridge III will focus on taking companies with a solid and exciting business model to the next level, scaling them into key international markets like the US and China.”

Eugene O’Callaghan, Director of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund said: “The Atlantic Bridge model of connecting Irish technology companies with key global markets makes it a key component of the funding landscape and we are excited to continue our partnership with Atlantic Bridge for Fund III, following the strong performance achieved by Fund II. This investment aligns with our dual objectives of generating economic impact and financial returns and we look forward to seeing it support rapidly growing Irish companies in accessing customers, investors and partners in global markets in the US, China and Europe.”

Said Kevin Sherry, Executive Director at Enterprise Ireland, “Enterprise Ireland has been an investment partner with Atlantic Bridge since 2004 and during that time they have continued to achieve significant returns for companies and investors. We are pleased to be on board again as partners of Atlantic Bridge III.”

About Atlantic Bridge

Atlantic Bridge Capital is a Global Technology Fund with over €400 million of assets under management across four Funds, investing in technology companies in Europe. We have offices and staff based in London, Dublin, Silicon Valley, Beijing & Hong Kong.

The Fund is focused on investing primarily at the expansion capital and growth equity stages in companies that have started to scale in revenues with a proven business model with evidence of market uptake and customer adoption. Atlantic Bridge has developed a unique and differentiated strategy which focuses on specific technology themes and the implementation of the ‘Atlantic Bridge Model’ for scaling companies internationally. The ‘Bridge Model’ accelerates the scale-up of technology companies in the US and Chinese markets. This approach is highly differentiated and has delivered strong performance results to date.

The team has a thirty year operating history working together in technology as entrepreneurs and investors with over $7 billion in exits, having raised four successful technology funds.

About AIB

AIB is the largest bank seed fund investor in Ireland and a significant provider of seed, venture and growth capital funding with commitments currently totalling €110m to eight funds. These funds have a combined fund size of €523m, a large part of which is providing equity finance to Irish SMEs with high growth potential across the Technology, Fintech and Life Sciences sectors. Since their creation, these funds have invested c.€109m in 138 companies which has helped create an estimated 1,800 high quality Irish jobs.

About British Business Bank Investments Limited

British Business Bank Investments Limited is the commercial arm of the British Business Bank. It aims to earn a commercial return by investing through providers of finance to smaller businesses and small mid-caps, pursuing investments on a fully commercial basis without receiving any advantage from the government.

British Business Bank Investments Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the UK government’s economic development bank. Neither entity is authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

British Business Bank plc and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

The Business Finance Guide, jointly published by the British Business Bank and the ICAEW, is a unique guide that sets out the full range of options available for smaller businesses looking to raise finance and offers advice to help companies plan for growth.

About the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (€7.5 billion at end Sept 2015) has a statutory mandate to invest on a commercial basis in a manner designed to support economic activity and employment in Ireland. The Fund has made investment commitments to date of €1.8 billion (including investments made by its predecessor, the National Pensions Reserve Fund) and plans to deploy the remainder of its resources over the coming years as suitable investment opportunities are identified.

About Enterprise Ireland

Enterprise Ireland is the government agency responsible for the development and promotion of the indigenous business sector. The mission of Enterprise Ireland is to accelerate the development of world-class Irish companies to achieve strong positions in global markets, resulting in increased national and regional prosperity. Full details of Enterprise Ireland’s support and activities can be found on its website www.enterprise-ireland.com